Meteorological Observations. 311 



This regulator may be interposed in any circuit by connecting the 

 two wires with the metal fittings on the two ends of the tube ; but 

 in order to give it an elegant appearance, I have generally placed the 

 glass tube, or the composition tube alone insulated with paper, 

 firmly within an ornamental brass tube in the form of a pillar, with 

 the metal cap screwed in its upper end and its lower end screwed 

 into an ornamental wood stand, and thus passed the current up the 

 metal tube on the outside and down the composition tube in the 

 inside, and dispensing with all unsightly wire connexions. 



It will be evident from this description, that by raising or lowering 

 the regulating rod, its lower end will come into contact with parts 

 of the tube of different degrees of conducting power, and thus the 

 power of the current will be regulated to the greatest nicety. 



Though this regulator has, when carefully made, fulfilled its pur- 

 pose very well, and been unaltered by long- continued use, it is pro- 

 bable that its composition might be rendered harder and less liable 

 to fracture by accident if some little alteration was made in the kind 

 of materials, so as to enable it to be baked in an oven and thus form 

 a kind of ware somewhat similar to that in black-lead crucibles. 



Birmingham. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR AUG. 1853. 

 ChiswicJc. — August 1. Uniformly overcast : very fine : rain at night. 2. Very 

 fine. 3. Uniform haze : clear. 4 — 8. Very fine. 9. Slight haze : very fine : 

 clear. 10. Very fine. 11. Slight fog. 12. Cloudy and fine. 13. Overcast. 

 14. Cloudy. 15. Cloudy and fine. 16. Uniformly overcast: rain. 17. Very 

 fine. 18. Slight fog : very fine : clear. 19. Foggy : very fine : slight rain. 20. 

 Slight rain : cloudy and fine. 21. Very fine. 22. Fine : cloudy : heavy rain at 

 night. 23. Rain : cloudy : clear. 24. Dense fog : dusky haze : fine. 25. Over- 

 cast : slight showers : boisterous, with rain at night. 26. Very boisterous 

 throughout. In this and the preceding day a large quantity of air from the south 

 must have moved over the kingdom. 27. Cloudy and rather boisterous. 28. Clear 

 and very fine. 29. Overcast: very fine. 30,31. Very fine. 



Mean temperature of the month 59°*69 



Mean temperature of Aug. 1852 63*67 



Mean temperature of Aug. for the last twenty-seven years . 62 "12 



Average amount of rain in Aug 2*35 inches. 



Boston. — Aug. 1. Cloudy : rain a.m. and p.m. 2. Fine. 3. Cloudv. 4. Fine. 

 5—8. Cloudy. 9—11. Fine. 12—15. Cloudy. 16. Cloudy: rain a.m. 17. 

 Cloudy : rain p.m. 18. Fine. 19. Cloudy. 20. Cloudy : rain a.m. 21, 22. Fine. 



23. Cloudy: rain a.m. 24. Fine : rain p.m. 25. Cloudy: rain a.m. 26. Rain a.m. 

 and p.m. 27. Cloudy : rain a.m. 28, 29. Cloudy. 30, 31. Fine. 



Sandwich Manse, Orkney. — Aug. 1. Drizzle a.m. : rain, fair p.m. 2. Cloudy a.m. : 

 damp p.m. 3. Showers a.m. : fair p.m. 4. Cloudy a.m. : showers p.m. 5. Cloudy 

 a.m. : drizzle p.m. 6. Drizzle a.m. and p.m. 7, 8. Cloudy a m. and p.m. 9. 

 Bright a.m. : clear p.m. 10. Clear a.m. : clear, fine p.m. 11. Bright a.m. : cloudy 

 p.m. 12. Cloudy a.m. : fine p.m. 13, 14. Cloudy a.m. and p.m. 15. Damp a.m. : 

 cloudy p.m. 16. Cloudy a.m. : clear, fine p.m. 17. Showers a.m. : clear, fine 

 p.m. 18. Clear a.m. : clear, fine p.m. 19. Damp a.m. : thunder and lightning, 

 showers p.m. 20. Bright a.m. : thunder and lightning, showers p.m. 21. Bright 

 a.m. : clear p.m. 22. Bright a.m. : showers p.m. 23. Cloudy a.m. : showers p.m. 



24. Bright a.m. : clear, aurora p.m. 25. Clear, fine a.m. : drizzle p.m. 26. Rain 

 a.m.: cloudy p.m. 27. Rain a.m. : damp p.m. 28. Damp a.m. : drizzle p.m. 

 29. Damp a.m. : cloudy p.m. 30. Cloudy a.m. and p.m. 31. Bright a.m. : 

 drizzle p.m. 



Mean temperature of Aug. for twenty-six previous years 55°08 



Mean temperature of this month 55 '98 



Mean temperature of Aug. 1852 60 *64 



Average quantity of rain in Aug. for seven previous years ... 2*70 inches. 



On the 24th, from 9| till 10 p.m., a comet was seen with a long bright tail, about 



5° above the horizon in the N.W. The nucleus like a star of the first magnitude. 



